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With falling poll numbers and declining approval ratings, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter is looking beyond Colorado’s borders for fundraising dollars. Though his latest report included over $400,000 in contributions, a large part of that money came from out of state. Not to mention, he blew over $150,000 this quarter on expenditures.

RYAN FRAZIER TO POLITICO: “In many ways, I would be a very untraditional candidate for this office. But in order to move the state forward, it’s going to take new ideas — and I think I have a lot to offer.”

COLORADO STATESMAN INTERVIEWS BILL OWENS: "I’m not going to run for anything."

It's official: Ken Salazar is going to be Secretary of the Interior. This obviously makes his seat one of the hottest in the country going into 2010. Bill Ritter will appoint a replacement for Salazar, but they will have next to no time in office making this basically an open seat. This also has the effect of causing some major upheaval in the Republican primary fields for the statewide races in 2010. Everyone had been seemingly lining up to challenge Bill Ritter because he looked more vulnerable than Salazar. Now, with Salazar gone, many candidates who were previously considering gubernatorial campaigns will go over to the Senate race.

Josh Penry, who has been rumored to have been looking at both CD-3 and the Governor's race, would be a more logical candidate for Salazar's Senate seat at this point. Penry's relatively young age could be a problem running against an incumbent for an executive office. A run for the open Senate seat would play to Penry's strengths on the other hand. His experience as a State Representative, Senate Minority Leader, and staffer for Scott McInnis make him just as qualified as anyone the Democrats could put forward for the seat.

John Suthers considered running for Wayne Allard's seat this year. He is very likely to consider running again now that the field is wide open.

Mark Hillman narrowly lost a statewide race in 2006. He has statewide name ID from that race and from his long record as a state legislator. Hillman would be running in a more favorable environment for Republicans than 2006 and could escape the circular firing squad that the CD-4 primary is likely to be.

Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo have both floated their names in the Governor's race. As Congressmen, a Senate contest would make more sense for them. It's hard to see Beauprez gaining traction in a statewide campaign though, and Tancredo's high negatives make winning a Senate race just as impossible as winning against Ritter.

Former Gov. Bill Owens, who has been seemingly disinterested in running against Ken Salazar, may reconsider joining the 2010 race now that the seat is open.

Two-time CD-5 candidate Bentley Rayburn is likely to make noise about running for Senate, just as he inexplicably did last time.

The fields for the Governor and Senate races are going to take shape quickly over the coming months. This is a positive devlopment for Colorado Republicans not only because Salazar's seat is even more vulnerable, but also because some of the deadlock in the Governor's race will be alleviated.

It seems that talk of a primary against Ken Salazar is spreading beyond the blogosphere. The Denver Post reports that Ken Salazar is kicking off his fundraising early, in part because of anticipation of a potential costly primary:

A few factors could drive up campaign costs, he said.

Ritter, who's earned the ire of the deep -pocketed oil and gas industry this year, will have to boost fundraising efforts if Republicans quickly field a candidate with money and name recognition on par with his own, Saunders said.

And discontent with Salazar's moderate stances has some left-leaning Democrats hoping for a primary challenger.

Republicans will have a challenge in both races when it comes to fundraising. A former congressman with a Washington fundraising base (i.e. Scott McInnis) or someone with strong statewide name I.D. (i.e. Bill Owens or Mark Hillman) would be the most competitive in Senate race fundraising. As for the gubernatorial race, at least two potential candidates (Marc Holtzman and Don Marostica) would have the option of self-funding.

Whomever Republicans field as their candidates in these two races, conservative bloggers need to take the lead this election cycle in helping to raise money.

In an online poll of a hypothetical U.S. Senate primary, RMR readers give a slight edge to former Gov. Bill Owens over several other candidates. Former Rep. Scott McInnis came in a close second with Attorney General John Suthers just behind in third place. Any one of these three would be a formidable opponent to Ken Salazar and it appears that the Republican grassroots, or at least those that peruse the blogosphere, are fairly evenly split between them.

A previous online poll on the gubernatorial race found 2006 gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman and Senate minority leader Josh Penry leading for that nomination.

(Poll closed)